Variety (September 1956)

MUSIC BUSINESS GETS RELIGION Nabes Cheer Faffs ‘Big Pix Lineup But Jeer Distribs on Release Caps Exhibitors in -New York area,+- BIG DISK COIN IN BIBLE BELT ^ us ’ Now Shooting for That Las Vegas, Which Has Everything But By JOE COHEN while- conscious that the fall will bring new competition from televi- lion, nevertheless look to the fall and winter months with consider¬ able optimism. Depending to an extent on the type of situation they represent, the theatremen are impressed by the type and quality of the product being moved by Hollywood. However, some maintain that the distributors are more unpredicta¬ ble than ever in their release pol¬ icy and are creating long and arid stretches when the lack of product will be more pressing than ever. Come the fall, the theatres that will be the best off will be the neighborhoods which then *will be playing off some socko b.o. attrac¬ tions like “The King and I,” “The Eddy Duchin Story/' “Autumn Leaves/’ “Moby Dick,” “High So¬ ciety/’ “Bus Stop,” “The Best Things In Life Are Free,” etc. “We need two or three good pic¬ tures a month,” Clem Perry of Rugoff & Becker circuit said last week. “To ine, the upcoming cycle looks good. As for tv, I don’t think it’s going to hurt the top product. People may stay home one night to see a film on the air, but they’re going to go out the next if there's * Cont * nued (j»^P a g e 5 ^) You Cant Laugh Off Presley’s Phenomenal 10,000,000 Records Elvis Presley, the hottest disk name to turn up in this era, is due to sell around 10,000,000 records during his first year with RCA Vic¬ tor. On that figure, Presley will earn a royalty of $400,000,-a rec- ordbreaking annual payoff for a disk performer*. Presley already has three 1,000,- 000 record sellers in “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Hound Dog.” Iii addition, Victor has just released seven singles, numbers heretofore available only in-Presley’s, albums. These reissue singles are each selling at a 1-2,000- a-day clip. Presley's click has turned into' a phenomenal bargain for Victor. Steve Sholes, the label’s country & western chief, picked up Pres¬ ley’s ‘ contract from the indie Suri Records for $30,000 last year and gave Presley an additional $5,000 bonus. Presley’s 10,000,000 disks mean a gross for the company of nearly $5,000,000. Victor' has been so busy with Presley pressings over the past few ‘weeks : that-jlt has been forced to.use. the. facilities of bofh Decca and MGM plants. It’s the first time that Victor ‘has used outside press¬ es; At the present time, it’s un¬ derstood that Presley disks account for about two-thirds of 6 the com¬ pany’s daily singles output. Find ft Risky to Ban Presley Disks on Air Minneapolis, Sept. 4. Radio station WSPT in nearby Stevens Point, Wis., brought down wrath upon itself when it, decided to discontinue the playing of Elvis Presley records and other rock ’n’ roll music. Someone threw a rock through the station’s front window reading “I am a teenager—you play Elvis Presley or else we tear up this town.” Also, several WSPT an¬ nouncers reported that they re¬ ceived telephone calls from girls and boys who growled, “You play Elvis Presley, or else.” The ban stands. Rock ’n’ RoD Lifts Bldp Par’s Roof With Record 220G • Rock ’n’ roll seems to be topping itself at the Brooklyn Paramount. Alan Freed’s troupe is heading for a new record of $220,000 in its nine-day engagement at that house, topping its 10-day date of last year when it scored an unprecedented $204,000. Although attendance at this theatre will be about the same - during this nine-day stand as on last year’s engagement, higher gross stems from the fact that top admission went to $2.50 instead of the $2 high of last year. Climax of the engagement was the $91,742 grossed over Saturday (Continued on page 55)/ Scandals Ain’t What They Used to Be in H’wood As Players Play It Safer Hollywood, once the easy and ob¬ vious target for preacher, moral¬ ist and just about any reformer trying to demonstrate his own vir¬ tue, is calming down. Short of the recent Diana Dors dunking in her pool and the usual flurry of divorce cases—events that might ordinarily go unnoticed were it 'riot ' fori the personality in¬ volved—there hasn't bedri a scan¬ dal'in rriariy months. It’s been slim pickings for the tabloids. In New York,’ the News, Mirror and Post, which tend to sensation¬ alize the more stonhy aspects of Hollywood life, have been reduced to running pictures of screen glamor arriving at or departing from the airports, their skirts k (Continued on page 55) By ABEL GREEN The disk biz is on the brink of a Biblical kick as the next biggest phenomenon in the packaged goods phase of the phonograph record in¬ dustry. / ■*’: Booksellers catering to “the bible belt,” and others, have dis¬ covered that, along with religioso 'books, the, demand • on the retail level for sacred music, gospel ar¬ tists, and the like, is an important | adjunct.' This was pointed up at the recent convention, in Chicago, of the Christian Booksellers Assn., a segment of the book busi¬ ness which specialises in religious books. Most publishers divide their operations into the “trade depart¬ ment,” i.e., the popular current fic¬ tion and nonfiction works, but per¬ haps * the more solid segments of many a book publisher’s income are the textbooks (schools and col¬ leges) and the religioso works, cov¬ ering treatises for all faiths. As the major book outlets (like Doubleday, Womrath, etc.) long since discovered, records and books are a natural affinity, now the Christian Booksellers Assn, find themselves paying more and more attention to religioso plat¬ ters of all kinds. Most notable, for example, is.the Just-recorded “The Living Bible,” comprising the entire Old Testament, New Testa- (Continued on page 37) R & H’s ‘Cinderella’ First TV Original Richard Rodgers .& Oscar Ham- merstein 2d have signed for their first original, television production, a 90-minute musical version of “Cinderella” which they will pro¬ duce, write and compose . for presentation on CBS-TV sometime in February, with Julie Andrews being dickered to star. Composers-producerS have done television work before, notably their General Foods anniversary (Continued on page 30) ‘Arms’ Subversive London, Sept. 4, Anne Shelton wanted- to sing “Lay Down Your Arms” to troops at the National R^idio Show on Tuesday (28) to "plug her disking of the song. But the War Office turned down the idea because they thought the title and lyrics were “too undignified” and subversive. Full first line of the song, published by Francis, Day & Hunter is “Lay Down Your Arms and Surrender to Mirie.” That sentiment apparently didn’t appeal to the British Army. Cap’s All-Time Top Pop: Ernie’s 3-Million ‘16 Tons’ Tennessee Ernie’s slicing of “16 Tons” has now firmly established itself as Capiol Records’ all-time bestseller. Domestic and Interna¬ tional sales have already pulled the disk over the 3,000,000 sales mark putting it well ahead of Cap’s second-placer, Les Paul-Mary Ford “Vaya Con Dios,” which is over the 2,000,000 sales bracket. In third spot is Pee Wee Hunt’s “12th Street Rag.” The “16 Tons” etching was re¬ leased^‘October of last year and immediately jumped into the best¬ seller category. Cap had cut the tune originally in 1948 for a Merle Travis album tagged “Folk Songs of the Hills.” Travis, incidentally, is the composer of the song which is published by American Music. Curtain Spiels May Thaw “Mame’ Benefit Patrons For their upcoming “Auntie Mame,” producers Robert Fryer & Lawrence Carr plan to use the same method of getting “live” ben¬ efit audiences that they found suc¬ cessful last season with “Desk Set.” They already, have more than 200 theatre parties scheduled for the Rosalind Russell starrer, which opens Oct. 31 at the Broadhurst N. Y., after a tryout tour. In order to counteract the normal Unresponsiveness of party audi¬ ences, a young and ingratiating as¬ sistant stage, manager for “Desk i (Continued on page 55) Deutsche Grammophon Bars Jews in London; ^ Boss Ex-Hitler Aide London, Sept. 4. A bar on Jewish employees and, artists has been imposed by Karl Buchweitz, who recently came over from Germany to head the Hello- dor Record Co., a subsidiary of the Deutsche Grammophon group. As a result of this edict two members Of the Jewish faith have already been pink-slipped. The two victims pf the new re¬ gime, both of whom were in the- public relations ' branch, were Monte Mitelman and Paul Rogers. They left a week or. so ago. Buchweitz, who, according to re¬ ports, was a former SS officer dur- *. (Continued on page 151 i Las Vegas, Sept. 4. Las Vegas is no\y entering one of the more important phases of its career. Having attained great wealth and a degree of stability for the well-established hotels, the en¬ tire resort seems to be going after a new dimension—respectability. Indications point to the playing down of the casinos and greater emphasis on the family trade which it's getting with increasing regularity especially during the summer months. It is integrating itself into the community of ac¬ cepted resorts with its emphasis on the fact tbat^it's probably one of the greatest dollar-for-dollar val¬ ues in the country, with top names in the entertainment field avail¬ able for approximately the same price as a first-run film. The first major step in the Las Vegas quest for respectability hae been accomplished in spades. Per¬ haps the vigilance of the Nevada State Gaming Commission has been responsible for getting over the first important, hurdler-im¬ pressing upon the general public the fact that its casinos are strictly on the level, and in the entire re¬ sort there cannot be found a sin¬ gle pair of loaded dice or marked cards and its wheels are run honestly. Although, admittedly the casinos are the backbone of the area, the new emphasis seems to be that its there only for those who care and can afford to indulge. Strict at¬ tention to credit ratings, and abili¬ ty to double-check nearly any client, has brought about the ad- (Continued on page 42) Fed Narcotics Agents Okay TV, Radio, Press 0.0. of A. C. Dope Raids Atlantic City, Sept. 4. Television, radio and the press were afforded a Chance to see and record what has become the annual dope raid of the season last Wed¬ nesday morning (30) when 48 were taken into custody on narcotic charges. Joseph M. Bransky, district su¬ pervisor of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics with headquarters in Philadelphia, invited broadcasters from the Philadelphia television and radio^stations as well as an¬ nouncers for the local stations plus reporters from all area newspapers to watch the raiders at work. The tv, radio and newspapermen were briefed by Bransky before the raids got underway, during the wee hours Thursday. TV and radio men took tape recorders and motion pic¬ ture equipment with them, and fol¬ lowed the police as they crashed in doors to nab suspects. The Philadelphia tv stations had the scenes on the area tv that night. With so many In on what in i (Continued on page 30) •